Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
What is the difference between magic and ritual? Perhaps magic is using symbolic gesture and actions to cause something, and ritual is using relevant gestures and actions to explain something.
In the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah challenges the 450 prophets of Baal to entice their god to accept a sacrifice. The 450 pranced, danced, gashed themselves for hours to entice the false god Baal to accept their sacrifice, but to no avail. The prophet Elijah suggested that Baal was busy in a meeting, out to lunch or, perhaps, taking a siesta. Nothing, however, happened.
Then Elijah simply rebuilt God’s altar, doused it and the sacrificial animal with water and simply said a short prayer to God and God sent fire to consume Elijah’s work.
The magic of the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal effected nothing, but the simple ritual of Elijah demonstrated the power of God.
In today’s passage from Mark’s gospel, Jesus uses ritual actions to show the opening of the ear to receive sound and of the mouth to produce words. It was not magic, but ritual. We live in the time of sacraments, sacred encounters with God, in which we meet God in ritual prayers and gestures. In the touching of ears and mouth, Jesus healed the man. In the sacraments, through the ministry if the Church, Jesus still touches us and heals us. The rituals used by the Church are not magical things, but rather ritual things in which and through which Jesus continues to touch and heal us.